Atlético B lose spectacular derby

Rojiblancos deserve more in their 4-3 defeat against Castilla

Next week is the Derbi Madrileño between the first teams, but today the fans got a nice warm-up with two mini derbies between Madrid’s biggest clubs. In the morning the C-teams played to a goalless draw, and early in the afternoon Real Madrid Castilla hosted Atlético Madrid B in what turned out to be a seven-goal thriller.

Castilla had won eight out of their last nine games, but were missing some key players for today’s match. Atlético coach Antonio Rivas had all his players available except for Collado, who sat out a suspension. But even without their topscorer, the Rojiblancos dominated and were the better side for most of the first half in the Alfredo di Stéfano-stadium.

Alberto Perea was in great form today and set up Borja early in the match, but goalkeeper Tomás got his body behind the striker’s shot. Shortly after, Perea created a big chance for himself but wasted the opportunity with a powerless shot.

In the 16th minute the young winger provided the opening goal for Atlético. He delivered a perfect cross for Roberto Batres who headed it into the back of the net from only a couple of yards out. With Sergio Marcos setting out the lines in midfield our reserves seemed very comfortable and Real Madrid failed to create any chances.

But after 40 minutes Atlético completely self-destructed and allowed the Mini-Merengues to score three times within five minutes. For the first goal Juan Carlos was allowed the time and space to cross and he found Álvaro Morata, who had sneaked out of Pulido’s sight to score the equalizer.

Two minutes later Regalón fouled Morata on the edge of the area and from the following free-kick skipper Fran Rico placed it onto Borja‘s head, who unfortunately scored in his own goal.

Just before half time Joselu made things even worse when he tapped in the 3-1, after Juanfran had escaped from Javi Cantero on the left side.

Atleti apparently weren’t able to pick themselves up following half time because straight after the break Álex dealt the Colchoneros a final blow. After abysmal defending on our right flank, a cross was met by the midfielder and he struck it past Iago from inside the box. It was a tough lesson in finishing as Real converted every single one of their chances up until that point.

Atlético’s midfield was seemingly the better of the two sides, but our defending let the team down. If it weren’t for goalkeeper Iago the home side would have extended their lead even further.

But an unexpected goal by Borja made for an interesting last quarter of the game. He headed the ball beautifully into the top-corner after a cross from Pulido from the right.

And just before the end Pulido brought the teams even closer together when he capitalized on some bad defending from Real Madrid. Regalón headed the ball to his fellow centre-back whose header was cleared off the line, but Pulido then scored the rebound and made it 4-3.

After the match Antonio Rivas lamented the missed chances, as Atlético had created more goalscoring opportunities than their counterparts. The coach stressed that his team had deserved a point today, but admitted that Real’s pacy wing play proved too much for Atleti’s defenders.

Highlights of the match are available on Real Madrid’s website and we can highly recommend you check out Borja’s beautiful header.